Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

'S actually a giant plant related to carrots, fennel, and parsnips, which, while it can grow quite tall, is not a tree. According to Harold McGee, it's harvested by scarring the top of the tap-root, which can survive for many years with this treatment.

"Since a burner puts out energy at a fixed rate, your pot will return to boiling temperature (212°F) at the same rate no matter how much water you have."

Can this possibly be right? Physics has always been my worst subject, but I believe that we calculate the change of temperature of a body by using the specific heat capacity of that substance, which is dependent on mass - its units are J/(kg*K), that is, amount of energy in joules required to raise a mass in kilograms by a number of degrees in Kelvin. Thus, since your burner is putting out energy at a fixed rate, shouldn't it take longer to heat the pot with twice the mass of water (i.e., the 6 quart pot)?

I think a better explanation is that, while the smaller pot may lose more heat energy to the cold pasta, it will return more quickly to boil precisely because it has less water in it. Or am I getting my physics terribly wrong?

According to a local cheesemaker, goat's milk can make fantastic mozzarella. I'm going to try to make some myself when I can get my hands on some not-too-expensive milk (during the spring, when the goat's are giving milk, I imagine). When I say chevre, I'm talking about fresh goat's cheese, which is acid-coagulated, rather than rennet-coagulated. Other goat's milk cheeses that are coagulated with rennet, like Midnight Moon, which I have seen used in fondue, melt just fine, although they are not as stretchy as mozzarella because of the lack of kneading.

@ryansm: I've never had any particular problems with Pecorino Romano or other hard cheeses smelling up my fridge - that problem usually comes from soft, washed-rind cheeses like Red Hawk or Epoisses. Very aged cheeses are certainly lower moisture, so you could probably store them in a closed container or a closed bag, maybe with some loss of cheese life-time (they last quite a while anyway), but I would still recommend wrapping them in a non-plastic material first, so as to avoid flavor migration from the plastic. Try out the wax paper and see if you're still having problems with fridge odor.

@dongale: That's a pretty good way to keep the cheese, especially since they leave some of the rind exposed, rather than wrapping the whole cheese in plastic. Refrigerated storage can cause cheese to dry out rather quickly, since the air is usually dehumidified at the same time as it's cooled, so it's worth asking if you can taste any particular cheese that you're interested in to make sure it's still appealing. A cheese shop should be happy to give samples, and since they're cutting the cheese to order (which is the best way to keep the cheese fresh - a good sign) they are used to getting the cheese out and handling it anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem.

@double0: I apologize! I should have written "cheese, grated", since re-reading it, it seems as if I might be implying pre-grated cheese is ok to use, which it isn't, since it's not going to taste as good (ever). Even so, Velveeta, being a "cheese product", is excluded.

@schmonsequences: What a cool idea on the part of your local cheeseshop! I've never actually tried matching dry vermouth with cheese, but Dolin vermouth, which I believe has it's own AOC, is quite nice. It's pretty widely available, and can be bought on the interwebs here. I'd also recommend Stone's Original Green Ginger Wine, which is a sweet fortified wine made with ginger and currants. It's super British, and really good with almost any cheese; I especially recommend it with very salty or funky cheeses.

@gastronomeg: I'm actually originally from Maryland (Takoma Park what), and Firefly makes some pretty good cheese!

@The Rowdy Cowgirl: I'd love to talk more about it, but the really short summary is: store cheese wrapped fairly tightly (but not suffocatingly) in wax paper, and try to eat it within 3-5 days, because the fridge is very dry and the cheese will probably turn hard pretty quickly. Avoid plastic wrap because the cheese will mold (not the good kind) and absorb plasticky aromas from the wrap.

@Peggasus: I have not been down that way, so I'll have to try to get there. It sounds really cool. Have you tried Prairie Fruits Farm's cheese? I love their stuff.